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"Final Thoughts"

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Although it was not an easy read, it was definitely worth while. I stuck with the book and finished it through the end. I liked the book because it explored the roles of women and showed  society where women were looked at solely on their ability to reproduce. I found it challenging to understand certain aspects of the novel because the actual message was so much deeper than what was on the surface.  The message overall, in my opinion, was women and their self worth compared to the societal worth of females. The way a female should see themselves is as a beautiful woman that can reproduce and provide more beauty and purity to the world by bringing a new life into the world. The way the society in the story depicts a woman’s value is solely based on the fact they can reproduce. The men do not think twice about the sacrifices women make to bring a new life into the world or how difficult it is to actually be pregnant. I really enjoyed the message and
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"Point of View"

"It’s a Saturday morning in September, I’m wearing my shining name. The little girl who is now dead sits in the back seat, with her two best dolls, her stuffed rabbit, mangy with age and love. I know all the details. They are sentimental details but I can’t help that. I can’t think about the rabbit too much though, I can’t start to cry, here on the Chinese rug, breathing in the smoke that has been inside Serena’s body. Not here, not now, I can do that later. She thought we were going on a picnic, and in fact there is a picnic basket on the back seat, beside her, with real food in it, hard-boiled eggs, thermos and all. We didn’t want her to know where we were really going, we didn’t want her to tell, by mistake, reveal anything, if we were stopped. We didn’t want to lay upon her the burden of our truth."(83-84). The scene has a very direct point of view.The narrator is describing the scene from her perspective to try and reason what happened to the little girl. She wants to e
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"Characterization"

While reading the next few chapters in the book, the roles of several characters came to light. The narrator, Offred, is telling the story from her point of view. Offred is a very alert character, she notices little things. She is facing the obstacle of self love and self comfort. She is a gentle soul who needs a touch of self appreciation. She isn't comfortable in her own skin and can't even stand the look of herself naked. Her bare body reminds her of how she is ruled by her body and the looks of it in Gilead. Offred says, "my nakedness is strange to me already". She is uncomfortable in the fact her body has so much control over her life. She feels alone and craves  comfort. She finds her comfort in her loneliness. She explains,"I step into the water, lie down, let it hold me"(62). She enjoys the feeling she gets from the water holding her because it gives her a sense of comfort.  However, Aunt Lydia is a main character as well. She is an extremely cautiou
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"Setting"

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              As I continued reading, I picked up more on the setting of the book. The setting is in Gilead, it is known as the "New America".  The setting is mainly in the house where the maids work. The setting reveals the main problems in the work. The city is unfair to women, the people in the town see women strictly as baby makers. The job of females in Gilead is to conceive and bear children. Gilead is under a totalitarian regime, therefore, the government is allowed to have control over what the females do.  Imagery is used to show the difference between the world in Gilead and the world the women are living in. More specifically, in chapter three, the author writes, "the tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there". The quote allows the reader to conclude that Gilead strips women from their  innocence and abuses their ability to reproduce.
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"First Impressions"

   After reading the first few chapters of the book, the author has caught my attention.  I personally enjoyed the beginning of the book because it was different than regular stories these days. The book has a flare to it because it is old-fasioned. The first few chapters revealed a lot for the reader. Margaret Atwood introduces the main character, Offred, in the first chapter of the book. Offred, the narrator of the novel, has an interesting role. Offred has purpose to be in the play for a list of reasons. For instance, Offred is in the house due to the sexual benefits she offers. The first chapter offers insight into her living conditions. She sleeps on a cot with several other females on the gymnasium floor. The cots they sleep on are the same cots that the old army members slept on. I found it interesting how they all sleep on the cots in the gym because it shows how awful their living conditions were and how poorly they were treated. The fact they were not even given real beds to
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"What's in a Name?"

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I decided to read the book, The Handmaid's Tale , by Margaret Atwood. A handmaid is a personal maid or servant. I anticipate that the novel will be the personal  story of a maid. I think the story will have a strong message about perseverance because maids are very consist and determined to complete all their tasks to the fullest extent. I can't personally connect with the title because I am not a maid and I never had a maid, but from television shows and movies I can conclude that they work extremely hard regardless of what is thrown their way. 
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